Pensioners News Autumn 2007 Asset Allocation (As at 31 March 2007)
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Autumn 2007 Pensioners News Pages 2 – 3 The Unilever UK Pension Fund UUKPF – financial update Pages 4 – 10 UPA news round-up Page 11 – 13 Unilever’s best behaviour Page 14 – 15 Brand news UUKPF – financial update The Unilever UK Pension Fund 7th Report by the Trustees, taking account of the liability to pay pensions and other benefits in the future. The and Statement of Accounts (for the year diagram on the right illustrates the deposition of the ended 31 March 2007) is now available Fund’s assets at 31 March 2007. on request. Michael Normington, During the year under review, a reorganisation took Financial Controller of the Fund, outlines place within the Fund’s equity investments. As a result some of the highlights below. of this restructuring, various changes were made to the Fund’s investment manager structure. During the year to 31 March 2007, the value of the Fund’s assets increased by £320 million and now As at 31 March 2007, the Fund’s investments were stands at just under £5.1 billion, representing an being managed by the following investment managers: increase of one-third over the last two years. The Equities Alliance Bernstein Report and Statement of Accounts summarises the transactions and net assets of the Fund and does not Goldman Sachs Asset Management take account of liabilities to pay pensions and other JP Morgan Asset Management benefits in the future. Lazard Asset Management Income £427m Newton Investment Management Northern Trust Luxembourg Management Company (Univest) Investment income £140m Bonds Aberdeen Asset Management Contributions £286m Goldman Sachs Asset Management Transfers from other funds £1m Prudential M&G Asset Management Hedge Funds Northern Trust Luxembourg Expenditure £262m Management Company (Univest) Property CB Richard Ellis Investors Private Equity Pantheon Ventures Benefits paid £251m (Pensions and lump sums) During the year ended 31 March 2007, the Fund’s investment managers collectively returned a Transfers to other funds £4m performance of 6.0% against the benchmark return Expenses £7m of 6.0%. The rate of inflation over the period, as measured by the Retail Prices Index, was 4.8%. Over the ten-year period to 31 March 2007 the annualised The Fund’s income during the year (mainly return of 7.5% has been slightly ahead of the contribution and investment income) exceeded benchmark return of 7.2%, but well ahead of the expenditure, primarily the payment of pensions and Retail Prices Index, which averaged 2.8%. lump sums, by £165 million. Contribution income included Special Contributions paid by the company As at 31 March 2007, the value of the Fund’s assets of £224 million. invested in the Univest pooled-investment fund amounted to £1.26 billion, or 26% of total assets. This The Fund’s assets are invested in accordance with includes the investment in hedge funds, which was the investment strategy, which is implemented undertaken through Univest during the year. 2 Pensioners News Autumn 2007 Asset allocation (as at 31 March 2007) UK equities 12.4% North America equities 16.6% Europe equities 17.8% Japan/Pacific/Emerging 15.0% market equities UK bonds 16.2% Property 9.2% Private equity 4.6% Cash and other investments 3.3% Hedge funds 4.9% 5.1 4.9 4.8 Value of investments 1998 – 2007 4.3 4.2 (as at 31 March 2007) 4.2 4.1 Property 3.8 3.5 Private equity Ordinary shares 3.1 Fixed interest Cash, deposits and others Hedge funds If you would like a copy of the Report and Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2007, please contact the Fund Secretary, Andy Rowell. Write to him at Unilever UK Pensions (address on page 16). Please remember to quote your pensioner record number. £ billions 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Autumn 2007 Pensioners News 3 UPA Ashford Each year so far we have organised On top of all this we run at least five meetings during the year so that members can just get together. For a short holiday for our members and these we try to arrange speakers to come along. At this year has been no different, except the end of last year we had Damian Green our local that there have been two: a cruise to MP, who spoke about life in Parliament. This year we the Norwegian Fjords and a cruise to have had an organ player and a wood turner, and are looking forward to a wine tasting and a talk by Anne Guernsey and Ireland. This has had the Bulpin, one of our members, on flower arranging. advantage of giving our holiday organiser, Our membership has been fairly stable for the last John Wright, a well earned break. couple of years, but of course we are always ready to welcome new members – contact Cynthia Elliott The Luncheon Club (ably run by Allen Benfold) (see page 16) for details. This year we particularly goes from strength to strength, and managed to top welcome Ernie and Joan Bulgin who now live just 100 attending (over two days) in March. Allen is still outside Cape Town, South Africa. looking for new venues, and has included a visit to Faversham Brewery. At our last AGM, two of our Committee members, Alan and Mary Yardley, retired as they found that Sylvia Smith is in charge of the walking section and they are spending more and more time at their home is coming up with all sorts of ideas. Following a in Spain. We must thank them for all their work successful guided tour of historic Faversham last year, in helping to set up UPA Ashford and their help in she started off this year with a guided tour of Lydd running the club over the last four years. They will be and followed up with a walk around Chilham Castle missed but will continue to support the club in any and Gardens. way that they can. KANSAS, Maureen Cox’s ‘Knit and Natter, Stitch and UPA Ashford at London Guildhall 6 Sew’ section continues to thrive, as does the theatre section which she also organises. This year we have been to see ‘The Lion King’, ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat’ and ‘We will Rock You’ – all of which were fully booked. In December we will be off once more to the pantomime at Hastings. Our planned trip to France last November was an outstanding success, as was the one in April when we visited yet another superb restaurant, this time in Ardres. Once again we are planning to take two coaches across the channel in November. For our day trips this year we have been to Wisley Gardens and to London ‘2000 years – a square mile’. For this last trip we had an excellent guide from City and Village Tours who gave us a most interesting and informative day. Coming up are trips to Parham House and Gardens, the Eastbourne International Airshow and Buckingham Palace. 4 Pensioners News Autumn 2007 UPA Colworth UPA Colworth’s croquet team5 The setting up of the Unilever We also launched a Luncheon Club. This activity, which has been so successful in other UPAs looks as Pensioners Associations (UPAs) was a though it will be equally successful for us with three response to the fact that many ‘sell-outs’ so far. It has also been successful in drawing pensioners had no connections with the in members that we do not see otherwise. concern because Unilever businesses no A highlight of our excursions was in December when longer survived locally. Regional groups we took an ‘after dark’ boat trip on the Thames, provide that point of contact which from Greenwich to Tower Pier, followed by a night ride on the London Eye. London by night from the otherwise would not exist. river was stunning - the laser beam from the Old Royal Observatory, London Docklands ablaze with We are lucky at UPA Colworth because our ‘home light, Tower Bridge, the Palace of Westminster and, base’ is still there. It still supports us strongly and we of course, the Eye itself. Then an aerial view, from are still involved in many ways with the laboratory, the Eye, of London illuminated for Christmas. Finally which we have not mentioned in these reviews a drive down Regent Street for the lights, plus fish before. One area of involvement is through our and chips in the Swiss Cottage pub on the way home, access to the site’s sporting facilities. We still have completed a great day out. pensioners playing cricket for the Colworth team, ‘geriatric’ tennis and golf thrive, and some still risk We also had another ‘boating excursion’, a cruise on their lives on the squash court. In addition, many of the Orwell Estuary in a Thames sailing barge. The our members serve on the committees of the various ‘Thistle’, built at Port Glasgow in 1895, traded under sports clubs, even though their playing days are long sail all around the coast of the United Kingdom, and gone. In one sporting arena, however, pensioners through two world wars, mostly carrying coal to the currently rule the roost: croquet. Our pensioners Port of London. In 1987 she was refurbished and croquet club played its first competitive match this refitted as a passenger-carrying barge. Our charter summer - and won. Is this the start of something big? was from Ipswich Docks, where we boarded for a leisurely run down the estuary under sail to just short Pensioners are also active in fundraising. In 1993 of the Harwich Basin. The weather was a mixture a committee was formed to promote fundraising of sun and cloud, but no rain – just right for the efforts across the Colworth site with a view to twitchers to ‘twitch’, the drinkers to drink (bar on supporting local charitable causes.